Coca-Cola India currently will be focusing on its existing brands. The company’s vice-president (marketing) Ricardo Fort in an interaction with FE’s Kakoly Chatterjee shares the company’s marketing strategy. Excerpts:
With the recently-launched energy drink, Burn you have entered a new category. Which other categories are you planning to tap in India ?
In India, we are focusing on the categories we have presence in that includes soft drinks, juice, water and energy drinks as there is enough action and scope for growth in the existing portfolio. With presence in various categories across the globe, it gives us a chance to evaluate the scope of launching different products and entering various categories in the Indian market. Burn, Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh is a result of this evaluation. I cannot rule out entry into new categories and products in the future.
Why did you test market Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh in the South, while Apple and mixed fruit flavour in Kolkata?
We wanted to launch Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh in the South first, so we decided to test market it in Chennai. On the other hand we decided to launch apple and mixed fruit flavours of Minute Maid in Kolkata because for the product our target consumer is different. We launched these two flavours in Kolkata with an aim to observe the pattern of home consumption because it is an inherent trend of the city.
Is Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh for on the go consumption and apple and mixed fruit flavour for home consumption?
This is partly true. We have found that Nimbu Fresh is popular in both categories because lemon flavour is so much a part of Indian culture and will be popular in both pack sizes. Even though you may happen to see more of 400 ml bottles of Nimbu Fresh it is also available in 1 litre packs. We have placed bigger pack sizes of apple and mixed fruit flavours with modern retail. While the former will be available more in traditional retail stores, the latter will be available in larger pack sizes in modern retail.